Overview

In 2010 the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded Sacramento State's Computer Science Department a $1.19 million four-year grant to enable 15 students to become cybersecurity specialists as part of the CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service (SFS) program. The funding has helped Sacramento State to establish a strong SFS program and to increase security education in our curriculum. In 2015, Sacramento State secured a second SFS grant with over $3 million in funding. The grant attracted an added 40 students with strong placement of graduating students to date, with majority of graduates securing employment in the executive branch of the federal government. This placement success can be attributed to the solid relationships we have established with federal and state agencies.

Sacramento State has been awarded additional funding from NSF that will support students in computer science, computer engineering, management information systems to become cybersecurity specialists over a period of five years starting in Fall 2023. This award is expected to total just over $3 million.

Scholarship recipients must complete either a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (CSc) Computer Engineering (CpE), or Management Information System (MIS), or Master’s degree in CSc/CpE within two years of entering the SFS program. Some students may receive a third-year of funding to extend their studies from the BS to the MS program provided that they meet admission requirements to the Master’s degree program in CSC or CpE. Qualified juniors and seniors are eligible through the undergraduate track. Graduating seniors can also apply through the graduate track if they plan to pursue a graduate degree in CSc or CpE at Sacramento State. New and existing CSc or CpE graduate students are eligible to apply under the graduate track.

In addition to their degrees, SFS recipients who successfully complete the program in Computer Science will receive a Certificate in Information Assurance.

Application Process

The application cycle for 2025-26 academic year is currently open. Each applicant to the SFS program must complete the following steps by 11:59 pm on March 21, 2025:

• Complete the application form through Qualtrics. This includes uploading i) transcripts for all undergraduate and graduate programs attended, ii) a 500-word essay describing applicant’s interest in information assurance and computer security including any experience in cyber security, iii) resume, and iv) contact information for two references that can comment on applicant’s technical background, motivation, time/resource management, and potential future professional success.
• Two recommendation forms completed preferably by faculty members or employers who can comment on applicant’s technical background, motivation, time/resource management, and potential future professional success. The recommendation letters should be emailed directly by the recommenders to ecs-sfs@csus.edu.

The review panel may request additional information to be submitted by candidates. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Information Assurance Program at Sacramento State

The Computer Science department offers an Information Assurance and Security (IA) certificate program at both graduate and undergraduate levels. At the undergraduate level, students successfully passing the following three courses are eligible to receive the IA certificate:

• CSc 152 Cryptography Principles and Practice
• CSc 153 Computer Forensics Principles and Practice
• CSc 154 Computer Systems Attacks and Countermeasures

At the graduate level, a student successfully passing three of the following courses is eligible to receive an IA graduate certificate:

• CSc 250 Computer Security and Privacy
• CSc 252 Cryptography
• CSc 253 Computer Forensics
• CSc 254 Network Security
• CSc 236 Formal Methods for Secure Software Engineering

The department offers an interdisciplinary Minor in Information Security and Cyber Forensics. This is a 21-unit series of courses, including CSc 114 Digital Evidence and Computer Crime, CSc 115 Internet and Law, and CSc 116 Cyber Forensics. Most students in these classes are from our Criminal Justice department. Students in this department are encouraged not only to take the Cybersecurity minor, but also to take any of the above three courses as an elective for their Criminal Justice degree.

Cybersecurity education at Sacramento State is applied and practically oriented. Various courses include hands-on laboratory assignments involving security and forensic tools:

In CSc 152, students implement cryptographic primitives and use the OpenSSL library to secure applications, including the use of private and public key cryptography, public-key infrastructure, and protocols such as TLS.

CSc 153 and CSc 253 require students to participate in a Forensics competition, where they develop evidence storage systems and are evaluated by their peers. Students are assigned to groups of three or four students. Each group creates a scenario based on a case they invent, and then they create an evidence drive based on the scenario. Finally, the groups swap their evidence drives to be analyzed by their peers. Grading is based on creativity, difficulty, comprehensiveness, and the ability to analyze evidence based on successfully answering a set of questions regarding the scenario. To keep our cybersecurity program current, emerging areas such as Reverse Engineering, Malware Analysis, and Mobile system Forensics have been included in the computer forensics curriculum, and SCADA security, specifically Smart Grid security and Advanced Persistent Threat, issues have been included in Network Security courses.

In both CSc 154 and CSc 254, students must participate in and are graded in a cyber-defense competition involving cyber-attack simulation and defense of systems. Typically, the class is divided into groups of 8-10 students. Students are selected by the instructor based on a job application. The groups are designated as either attackers or defenders. After the first round of the competition, the attackers and the defenders switch roles. The defender machines must run specific applications in multiple operating systems, similar to a typical business environment. In addition to defending their systems, defenders must also complete business tasks such as setting up printers, reporting on intrusions, or adding new accounts that are assigned.

Students tackle secure programming assignments in several courses. For instance, students in CSc 250 work on a semester-long programming assignment involving a secure online election system through which they learn how to design systems based on requirements of a secure distributed system. They learn how to apply principles of authentication, confidentiality, access control, integrity, authorization, delegation, non-repudiation, privacy, etc., in a real system.

Disclaimer: We make every effort to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the information provided on this website. However, we review the information on a regular basis and reserve the right to make necessary changes without prior notice.

Contact Information

Email: ecs-sfs@csus.edu

Mailing Address:
SFS Assistant
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Sacramento State
6000 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95819-6023
Phone: (916) 278-2154